


Ocean of Rot

by Generics



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 17:57:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7474146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Generics/pseuds/Generics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Itachi experiences the aftermath of war for the first time. His child’s mind tries to cope with the horrors he sees before him.</p><p> </p><p>(Vague)<b> Uchiha Massacre foreshadowing. </b></p>
            </blockquote>





	Ocean of Rot

Today Itachi hides behind his father on a battlefield. His small hands cling to his father’s bloody fingers. He hides his innocent face in his father’s stained flak jacket. Itachi wants to forget what his eyes see. He closes them as the wind rustles past him and just for a moment he pretends that he is flying away. His arms are outstretched wings carrying him home.

The world spans out below him like an ocean. The people look like birds bobbing in the waves. In his mind he pretends the shredded limbs are merely leaves floating on the surface. He pretends that the bloated bodies hanging from trees are just birds nesting on ocean buoys; that their gray eyes staring at him are simply eggs waiting to hatch. In this moment of delusion Itachi can pretend that the ocean has always reflected crimson upon his face.

In his imagination the wind churns around him. Heat simmers over his face. His feathers are crackling. The smell of burning flesh and _rot_ radiates upwards sending him spiraling down.

Back into reality. Back onto the battlefield.

Father pushes him away towards the carnage. Father does not try to hide him from the horror. Father is teaching him a lesson. Today Itachi learns what it means to be a ninja. Today he learns what his future holds.

 _Enemies, strangers, friends, family, Uchihas_. They watch him from where they lay in their open graves. Their blood mixes with mud. Their _life_  sticks to the bottoms of his shoes. He feels their life seep through his clothing and stick to his skin. The chill of it all settles over him like a noose. 

“There are lives lost” His father says, “and then there are lives saved.” Father’s hand motions between Itachi, himself, and then to the dead. “To a ninja, war means sacrifice. One day, you will have to decide who to save from war. One day, Itachi, you will decide who deserves death.”

**_Where Father sees his destiny, Itachi only sees his destruction._ **


End file.
